Finding Purpose in Your Passion with Shawn Johnson East

I had so many people telling me, "You just have a week left. You have a chance to make the team. You could still go off," like all these things. "You can make all this money with all these brand deals." And I hit a rock bottom kind of similar to the Olympics in 2008 where I was just kind of like, "I don't care anymore." Had to call every brand that I was associated with and terminate my contracts. Wow. Give back money. And I retired from my sport and I felt like a million dollars. I was the happiest I'd ever been. I went on to do "Dancing with the Stars" and it was because I retired, I got to meet my husband. Wow. And it was amazing, but I think it's just that like life lesson that I've now taken into my business of if you're doing it for the wrong reason, it's never going to work. And that's something that I learned from my coach at such a young age. The only thing he cared about is that we loved it. And if we didn't love it, he didn't want us to be there. I've kind of found in business, if you don't like it, you could probably be successful, but it's not gonna be fulfilling.

Hey everybody, Dr. Josh Axe here. Welcome to the Growth Lab Podcast, where each and every week we talk about how to grow yourself, your health, your wealth, and your career and relationships. Today I have a friend on, Shawn Johnson East, and I'm very close friends with her and her husband and my wife Chelsea. And we were at your house a couple weeks ago and ordered True Food Kitchen and swam in the pool. And oh yeah, our girls are the same age, we got 3-year-olds, and our next babies will be the same age. Yeah, next baby days. So Chelsea and Shawn are like a few days apart on their due date, and we're thinking, you know, Maybe the same day.

Probably. It could happen.

Probably. So super excited. And we're gonna have a lot of stuff today. I'm excited to talk about, like, one of the things that I think that I've heard so much lately from people, and I think some of this was coming out of the pandemic, is like stats around loneliness and sadness and people not feeling like they have really good friends and community. And that's something we've been so blessed to have with, with you and Andrew. And I remember, I think we were both in seasons of— Chelsea and I said, we really feel like we just— we don't have another couple we really connect with deeply. And we prayed about it for a year or so, and then we ran into you guys at a coffee shop. Yeah, Andrew, I— so what happened was I went up and I, I like— I saw them across the way, and, um, and we had PR agents that were brother and sister. Yeah. And they said, hey, you guys should do a collab sometime. So Chelsea is like, oh, I think that's Sean, Sean Johnson East. And I said Oh, I should go up and introduce myself. And she's like, no, do not embarrass me. And I said, no, I'm not gonna embarrass you. I just walked over and then Andrew gave me this eye like, who's this guy, you know, trying to, you know, get my wife to sign an autograph. Yeah.

And, uh, but then you said you're Dr. Axe, and I was like, no, babe, we've been talking, our teams have been talking, and I had been following you forever through my like comeback career, my nutritionist. I read every single one of your books, which sounds creepy these days, or not, I don't know.

I've watched all your videos, so you know.

Yeah, so like we knew of each other, and then I think we spent every waking second together, all four of us, for 2 years for sure.

Great.

And we end up being neighbors.

Yes, twice. And so we were like a block away and then literally 2 houses away from each other, or one house in between, for, for a couple years. And we had such a great rhythm with community, you know. One of the things I think that, um, I learned from in just being friends with you and Andrew is just how much more, just how much joy it can bring to life and how great it can have another couple you have so much in common with. Because we had such a great rhythm of, so this is our every Saturday morning, we would go and do a couples workout.

This is before kids.

Before kids, exactly. And then we would go to brunch. Yep. And then we would probably hang out all day and then watch a movie at night. And it was like a whole, you know, all weekend it was.

We went through the Lord of the Rings saga, Harry Potter saga.

Yes.

Settlers of Catan, we would do, right?

Game night. Oh yeah.

Yeah.

So much fun.

It was so much fun.

So one of the things I noticed about you and Andrew, and this is, you know, this is a really high form of praise, is that you guys are so good at community. Like I look at the relationships you have, the people you have around you and Andrew. Talk to me a little bit, like how have you and Andrew, and how intentional are you about creating, you know, creating community?

Uh, really intentional. And I think it all stemmed from when we met you guys, because We were in a phase of life where we were about to move permanently back to Los Angeles. Right. We were getting ready to list our house. We were, we went to buy boxes, I think the day that we ran into you at the coffee shop. Um, and we kind of felt lost here in Nashville with not having a community. And then we found that community with you guys. When you guys moved for a little hiatus, but you're back now. Yep. Um, we just kind of leaned into community a lot because we had that same feeling of, should we move back to Indianapolis? Should we like, rebuild a new community somewhere. And all of our friends started to have babies and started to isolate themselves even more. And it's not really because they wanted to, it's just like that phase of life where you don't know how to relate to people who have infants. Yeah. And so we started doing, um, these like yearly annual goal sheets where we would put down our goals for like finances, for marriage, for friends, for community, for philanthropy and church and like every aspect of our life. And we both had really common areas of community and friendship, wanting to build that. And we missed our friends. We felt lonely. We felt isolated with a newborn.

Yeah.

And so we started just doing game nights where once a month, the first Friday of every month, we would invite our closest friends. We would tell them to bring kids or not bring kids, like whatever they wanted. And we just tried to support our, our community as best as we can. And now every month our game night is like 60 to 100 people, which we should—

I mean, it's like legendary.

It is. It is a lot of fun. But we have built up so many amazing relationships. And within those relationships, whatever it is we're going through, we have a couple we can reach out to and say, I need prayers, or I need support, or I need connections, or like whatever it is. We have that like family around us now that makes us feel really supported and whatever it is we're doing. Which is great.

It's so great.

Yeah, I never thought I would say that.

Yeah, being very introverted myself, you know, I think, and that's something I think we— now your husband's more extroverted. Yeah, Andrew is very— so, but, um, that, that's something that I think that maybe a lot of people don't realize, and I don't think I realized, uh, maybe quite a few years ago, was that if you want to have a great community, you need to, you need to create it. Like, you have to be very intentional about going out and saying Uh, like one of the things I, I, I've done in the past is I sat down, this was years ago when I realized, uh, quite a few years ago I realized I don't really have a great friend group. Mm-hmm. And I did this exercise where I wrote down, okay, who are the 5 people that my 5 kind of closest friends right now? And are those the, are those the people that I really feel like is iron sharpens iron? Like we, we share a purpose and our values and all these things and realizing, okay, maybe not so much. And realizing, okay, I, I really wanna spend time with people like you and Andrew and, you know, Steph and Isaac Meek and some of the people we run around with and saying, okay, you know what, they're very purpose-driven, you know. And, um, and they're the sort of people like this is— this is— I can say wholeheartedly is like, hey, if Chelsea and I had to leave for a week, it's like, who do we— not say we're doing this, but who could we drop Arwen off for a week and know she's going to be good? Yes. You know, and she's going to grow and she's going to be loved and she's going to be— and, you know, and that's a good way to think about friendship. Chick-fil-A, you does this thing in interviewing, I think that's really interesting, is they basically say, um, should we hire somebody? The first question they ask is, would I leave my kids with this person?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, even like our game night crew or like our friendship, our community that we've built up now, cuz we spent, we spend so much time together, all of us. And it sounds weird to say like all 60 of us, but we really do. Um, is we started out with this mindset of like, we need to surround ourselves with more like-minded people. Who share the same values, who share the same beliefs. But we very quickly learned that our community is all varying beliefs across the board. Yeah. Whether it's in politics or like whatever, religion. But at the end of the day, they are people that I trust with my children.

Yeah.

They're good-souled people who are, who we love being around, who challenge our mindset even more.

Yep.

Because we might not agree on a lot of things, but they open up our perspectives to either reinforce our personal beliefs or bring up a philosophical discussion that makes us like go ask questions.

Why?

Yeah. Which is a lot of fun.

Yeah. It's a character thing, right? It's like you want people to have great character. And again, there's going to be some different beliefs, belief systems about things, but it's, it's a big deal. That's a big deal. That's good.

Um, you gotta go. You guys have to come to game night.

You know what, we, I mean, we had our own like mini game nights with the four of us, but we need to come to the big one.

So we've been in Puerto Rico, you know, and now we're convinced Chelsea of that one.

Yeah, my, my Chelsea's a 10 out of 10 introvert, so, um, yeah. Yes. So, you know, when we first met you guys, um, you guys had a business that you were kind of starting. Yeah. Now it's thriving. I mean, you have such an incredible network, a family network. It's, uh, East, uh, East— or what's the— it's, uh, yeah, Family Made. Talk to me a little bit about Family Made, what you guys are doing there, and then I have a follow-up question I think is really important in terms of how you've gone from being successful in different areas, like how that transitions.

But, um, the long story, tried to like summarize a little bit. We tapped into social media early on, right around when we started meeting you guys, and we built a social media following doing nonsense, just kind of documenting our lives. Um, we went through a miscarriage. That was the time we met.

Yes. Yeah.

And ended up posting that and documenting that, not because we ever planned to,. It was just something we felt called to post. And that kind of led us into the whole like family-made network to a certain extent. But we posted something very raw and vulnerable and unedited and not perfect and not by any political script of any kind. Um, and it, it kind of took off and we didn't run with it cuz it took off, but we ran with it because it built this community of people who are looking for, um, family support to a certain extent.

You guys say something else too, that one of the things that I think people are so attracted to you and Andrew about is you guys are so vulnerable, right? You were out there and you really shared your heart and you were honest.

And I think that's, you know, yeah, well, we both spent so many years in a professional career that required us to be perfect. I mean, Andrew in the NFL, me with the Olympics, our image had to be impeccable, right? And that got exhausting. So being able to show that raw and real side, we noticed, kind of drew in all these families that were looking for relatability. And now fast forward, we kind of grew our platforms to a point where we didn't want to grow anymore. We didn't want to go to the next level and share another level of our, of our personal lives. So we said, why don't we go find all of these families out there who are sharing their lives as well in different storylines and contexts and help kind of get more views and get more, more eyeballs on them. And our, our goal is to saturate the market with just really fun content. That doesn't have to be provocative or—

Yeah, you know, there's plenty of that stuff out there.

Yeah, we want to make families cool again.

We love it. We had my, my mom just— I just was talking to her last week and she's like, I just love watching Sean and Andrew's channel. They're so funny. All their friends are so funny. I'm like, they are. They're, you know, they're a lot of fun.

We have a lot of fun. It's funny, we recently had a team come in looking to kind of like pick our brains on how we have built what we've built. And it was the first time we sat down and had to explain it. And things that seem so routine to us and so normal are not.

Yeah. Yeah.

We've just kind of figured out our machine so well, describing it to another team as like a consultation was kind of comical. They asked to like watch our filming process. And I was like, you don't want to see this. I'm in my pajamas.

I— You and Andrew arguing about things or disagree. I mean, yes.

Yeah. But it's been fun.

That's awesome. That's aw— you know, and the, the thing I think too is, and this is something I really appreciate about you and Andrew, is that there's also this level of consciousness of sometimes when people are in business, their number one goal is, I, I wanna make money. And sometimes, listen, that, that can be a great thing, especially if it's, hey, I wanna provide for my family and create security. Absolutely understandable. But there's a level of thinking I've noticed with both of you of like, No, hey, we wanna make money, but even more than that, we wanna do good in the world. We wanna positively influence families. We wanna, we wanna share values today. You know, I remember growing up, and this is something that reminds me of your channel, is like we used to watch, it was TGIF, it was Thank God It's Friday. And then I think they changed it to thank TGIF something else. But basically we'd watch like Family House and Step by Step and, um, Full House. Anyways, all those shows. And there was always like a moral of the story. And I think that's something people can get with, when they're watching your whole network is, it's back to that thing of like, it's feel-good, I actually grow from it, it's, it's really valuable.

We— it, it never start— or it didn't start out that way. So we started out building social media and YouTube channels to make money because our friends were doing it. Andrew was bouncing around the NFL. I didn't have a career anymore. I kind of quit my speaking gigs, and we needed to make money, and someone said you could do it on YouTube. So we went down this route of trying to monetize and trying to get paychecks, and it just felt worthless. Yeah. It felt purposeless. And when we stumbled upon the miscarriage video, not to keep going back to that, it was something that we did out of like a passion. It was something that I created and edited and kind of lived in for a healing process. I didn't think anybody would watch it. And to see how impactful it was to other people, it was the first time we had posted something that. Felt good for us and it felt good to others. Yeah. And so we kind of ran with that. And our mission within our career now is very family comes first always. And then our mission with our business has to come first before any money comes after that. And when we align ourselves with other companies and brands and partnerships, our first question is, does it make sense for the company? And if it, and meaning like the mission of It has to do good. It has to have a good message. It can't be provocative and all of these things. It has to truly align. And if it doesn't, then it's not worth it for us.

That's so good.

Yeah.

I think that idea of being mission and purpose-driven is so important. And the other thing, it's energy. It gives you energy. It, you know, there's, it's something you can truly be proud of. And so I think it's so important, you know, as you talked about the miscarriage, that's something that your vulnerability and openness helped with other people being open and vulnerable, which really is You know, when you look at the psychology, it's like that, that's part of what ignites healing for people. I mean, so it's, it's something that you were able to share something and go through something that, that you was really difficult for you that helped you heal others. Uh, you know, I think that when I think about your career, you've had different ups and downs and disappointments. And I, I remember having a conversation with you one time where I think I asked you, I, I didn't know if I was expecting as, as a traumatic, not the right word, but like as intensive or responsive. Yeah. Hey, what was it like training to be an Olympic gymnast? Yeah. And you started sharing with me about some things about mindset and body image. And so share with us a little bit about sort of those challenges, but also what you learned from those challenges.

I mean, I'm so far removed from it now that like, I, I wouldn't change anything from the, for the world. Everything that I went through, everything that I learned, every hardship brought me to like today. And it's made me be a better, better mother, better wife. But training for the Olympics is intense. And especially in gymnastics, I was 16 years old when I made the Olympic team. And back then there was such a different kind of environment in gymnastics where everything was like materialistic and vanity-driven and dealing with the pressure of being a 16-year-old with the weight of the world's expectations on you in front of, on the biggest stage in the world. I don't know, there, there was so many pressures that I was having to deal with and digest as a kid that is probably unfair for a child to have to deal with. Yeah. I don't know, there's like 10 different storylines I could go off of. Is there one in particular?

Well, I'm wondering around, you know, in gymnastics, there's probably a certain level of, you need to look this way, you need to be this way, you need to eat this way. Very, very specific and strictness around some of those things, right?

I mean, it's— So the nutrition in gymnastics back in my day was not ideal. Um, we were 16-year-olds that were expected to be adults, and there is this like disconnect in the resources that were supported and like given to us as athletes. So we didn't have nutritionists, we didn't have psychologists, we didn't have anybody kind of teaching us and educating us as children on how to best perform and take care of our bodies. But as a 16-year-old, I knew the science of gymnastics, the lighter I was, the easier it was to flip. And I also had judges that lived in a different time of gymnastics that favored an aesthetic that was not my own. So if I always made the comparison, Nastia Liukin versus myself, Nastia is very like tall, lean. Flexible. And back when I competed, that was a favorable aesthetic. Um, and so when I was competing, I always had this pressure that I knew the judges wanted me to look a certain way. I needed to be lighter to flip easier, but I didn't know how to attain it. And so I struggled with eating disorders. I struggled with anxiety over like, what are they going to think of how I look today? Am I going to look like not in a favorable way, that they're going to like take off points or whatever it was. And so because of that, I struggled with eating disorders for about 10 years around the Olympics and then afterwards, where in my mind, the way I look— the way I looked was a direct representative, like, representation of people's judgment of me, and it was a score. And kind of figuring out that rhythm took a very, very long time. I went on to do Dancing with the Stars twice, which was even more subjective by mass bias and headlines and social media. It was just a lot of different things. But having that pressure added on top of performance was really difficult.

Well, it's so interesting what you said. I mean, people are literally, with both of those shows, with the Olympics and Dancing with the Stars, they're holding up, they're giving you a number. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's like, you know, a 7.5 or a 10 or whatever it is. I mean, that's—

I feel like we're definitely moving into an era of gymnastics and to the world where we're more aware of all of these flaws. Yeah. So people are encouraging more health and more like holistic sides. Yeah. Of all of these things. But I do think I was on the tail end of an era that, it was kind of like this hush-hush whisper, let me tell you in private, you need to lose 10 pounds, I don't care how, but if you do that, you'll get a higher score. Instead of let's celebrate you for who you are and celebrate the fact that you're like a phenomenal gymnast in your own way, shape, and form. And I feel like we're getting there, but yeah, it was not easy to balance for a long time. That's when I met my nutritionist who told me all about Dr. Axe.

Nice, awesome. Yeah. You know, I think that, yeah, I think the mindset definitely is shifting. I think we're definitely more focused now on physical health and mental health and some of these issues. You know, I was reading a study recently, and well, this is about a year ago, but they found that, you know, a lot of adolescent girls, the more time they spend on something like Instagram or social media, the more body image issues they have to have. What is your message or any advice for any, any, any women out there, or even parents with young girls out there who are struggling with body image issues?

Oh my gosh. Gosh, I, I struggled with it for so long and I would be dumb to say I don't still struggle with it here and there, but the only thing that helped me was surrounding myself with like a team and a community that could reinforce truth to me every single day. So good. And my nutritionist who I worked with after the Olympics for, I still talk to her every once in a while. She always used to talk about these voices in my head. What are the voices saying today? And it was also this, like, it was always like this angel versus devil. What are these devil thoughts telling me? And what's like the weight of it? But I think social media is just reinforcing horrible thoughts in kids because it's nothing but a comparison platform for kids to look at and say, well, she looks a certain way and she's getting so more, so many more likes, which is a new score. And I would just say for like, especially for kids and for women, You have to find relatable people around you that reinforce the good thoughts in your mind.

This is so good. I, I think that this is a really important message that I actually don't— I don't hear many people talk about. The fact that if you're around people that are judging other people and they feel like even themselves, I have to look a certain way, like very, very— versus you have other people who that's not the thing that's most important to them. They're more worried about, hey, we want to raise great kids, we want to, you know, eat great food, we want to do things that are meaningful with our lives, right? And people that see you in a very specific way, a way that's looking more at, you know, looking at the heart and some of those things as well, like, those are important. So anyways, I just think that's a really important message for people out there, that if you're struggling with body image issues get around people that are encouragers and lovers and help with right thinking.

And ask for help.

The only— that's good.

The only thing that saved me from everything— I mean, I, I went through all of it. I have done every diet in the world, every fad diet in the world. I was addicted to Adderall for probably 7 years. I was on everything. I did everything, and none of it worked. And the only thing that got me out of it was asking for professional help. Well, and she still is a close friend of mine.

That's so good. Yeah, so good. You know, I think one of the things I heard you give a talk about, part of a talk one time on— you went into the Olympics and you were the gold medal favorite for the individual, and you ended up getting a lot of medals. You did get a gold medal on team but got a silver. And then I know you've got a relationship still, which I think is a great story, with, with Nastia Liukin, who I don't know, I don't know if you that close of friends at the time, but now you're, you know, she's one of, if not your best friend. Can you talk a little bit about kind of that scenario? And part of that question here is, is how do you overcome if there's any form of like expectation, but overcome if there was any type of disappointment on your own part?

Yes. So going into the all-around at the Olympics, which was both me and Nastia's like specialty, and we were best friends back then. So at the Olympics, we were roommates. We chose to be roommates. We were we were the, like, closest friends.

That's hard. You're competing against your best friend too, and you're 16, so it—

that's— that takes a maturity level of not a 16-year-old. Um, but I was the reigning all-around champion, so going into it, it was kind of like that predictor of, like, we're expecting you to do the same thing. And as a kid, I started in gymnastics, and I was really lucky to have a coach that kind of, like, nurtured this passion I had for gymnastics for so long. I truly was in it because I loved it. It was not a job, it was not a career. I loved gymnastics. But getting close to the Olympics was the first time when I started to feel the weight of it. When I started to feel like the weight of people's expectations, of NBC commentators, of brand deals. I know there was like, Wheaties was expecting a gold. That's the only way you get on the box. Like all of these things. And it was the first time it started to feel like a job. And I felt like if I didn't win that gold medal, I was gonna let down a lot of people, which I had never had to deal with before. The only thing I ever had to deal with was like letting down myself. I was really lucky to have a lot of people around me who were like, we don't care as long as you continue to have fun. My coach was even like that. So at the Olympics when I came in second to Nastia, who's my best friend, which was a whole thing cuz like 99% of me is like, I want you to do so good today. And 1% of me was like, but maybe not your best.

You know, I, I'd love to come in first. Yeah.

Um, but after I came in second, it was the first competition that I had ever had to deal with the weight of feeling like the world was disappointed. And that was really hard for me as a kid because Up until that moment, there was— the scales still kind of favored this. It was just for me. But at the Olympics it was not. It was for our country. It was for these brands. It was for our team. It was for everybody else. And I felt like I let people down. And so I went on to compete 3 more times for medals. We came in second as the team, which we kind of had to deal with the same disappointment. I went to floor, I came in second again. And it was just this like conflict of how do I find re— like, re-find that passion. And when I went onto the balance beam, which was the last competition, it was the first time at the, at the Olympics I was kind of like, I don't care anymore. Like, I don't care what you think. I'm gonna get a silver medal again, probably. It was kind of comic, like a joke that we had going on. And I was like, I don't care. I'm just gonna do this for myself. And then I ended up winning. And I remember getting that gold medal and thinking to myself, if only I had felt this way the whole time.

Mm-hmm.

I think I could have enjoyed it more cuz I put so much weight of other people's expectations. So going outside of the Olympics, I had kind of just taken that with me of, from this moment forward, I don't care what you think of me. I'm gonna go do what I love because I've already lived it. Yeah. And I lived like world disappointment. And I don't care anymore, which was great, actually.

I mean, this is an important thing for performance, right? I think that in, I think just generally enjoying your life, if you're, if people are always thinking about, hey, I want to please others and worried about being judged, it's, it's, it's like putting a weight around your ankle, right? It's, it's hard to run as fast as you can do, do your absolute best. And so, but I do want to point out for everybody, how many medals did you win and what did you win in that Olympics?

4.

Yeah. 4 Olympic medals, 1 gold, 3 silver. I mean, incredible.

We did really well.

Incredible.

Yeah. You know, but it was, it was such this interesting lesson to learn and one that I'm so happy I learned now being a mother was when I won that first silver medal. What happens after the Olympics is like, as soon as you're done competing, they take you through what is called like the corral and it's every news outlet in the world who's come to the Olympics to cover 'em. And you literally just stand there and. Take a step, do an interview, take a step, do an interview for about 3 hours. And this is right after your performance. And this is where you, you give like your cliché line of like, I'm going to Disney World or whatever. Yeah. But I remember that very first interviewer asked me, how does it feel to lose? And I remember thinking to myself as a 16-year-old kid, I was like, I don't understand. I'm at the Olympics and I have a silver medal around my neck, which is what people dream of., but you're telling me the world sees that as a loss. And I remember that being the biggest like slap in the face, but like a wake reality check, like wake up moment of I'm at the Olympics and I have a silver medal and that's something I should be very proud of. Yeah. And from that moment forward, especially now as a mom, I, that's probably one of my favorite lessons I've ever learned in life. People see nothing but gold is— you know, worthy, but so much more is.

You crushed it.

Thanks.

Thanks. Oh man, you know what, one of the things I think too, you know, I look back at times in my life and not being on that same stage, but in terms of like, there's a level of disappointment. But you know, how does that— I think about some of the hardest lessons I've had in life and biggest disappointments and how later I was able to use those for good. God was able to use those for good. Is that something you've discovered like through that situation? That is there— was there anything that you if anything else that you realized after going through that, that maybe you used in your, the business now, or that you're so successful with, or with your relationships?

Yeah, I'd say the hardest time of my life that I had to kind of like learn this hard lesson was I tried to make a second Olympics in 2012. And that was the biggest, most rude awakening ever, because after the Olympics the first time, I won the gold medal, but I still had all of these like thoughts in my mind of people still expected more of me. And I kind of got lost identity-wise. I didn't know who I was outside of gymnastics. I had never done any other sports in the past, like 10 years. I had to go back and finish high school. I was going off to college. I, I didn't know how to take like the next step forward. And I got lost for a while. And ended up thinking like, the last time I remember being fulfilled or happy was in gymnastics. And so I went back to the sport and fell completely victim to money and just opportunity. And I had a team around me who wanted to build the biggest empire of the redemption tour, basically, of me coming back to win 4 golds and all these things. And I hated every second of it. Every second of it. I was doing it only for money. I was doing it only for people's expectations and thoughts and judgments. And I got myself back to a place where I loved gymnastics, but I hated what I was doing for other people. And I got up to a week before Olympic trials and I was on, I was on course. I, I probably could've done pretty well, not at the Olympics, but like at Olympic trials. And I hated it so much. I had so many people telling me, you just have a week left. You have a chance to make the team. You could still go off, like all these things. You can make all this money with all these brand deals. And I hit a rock bottom kind of similar to the Olympics in 2008, where I was just kind of like, I don't care anymore. And had to call every brand that I was associated with and terminate my contracts. Wow. Give back money. And I retired from my sport and I felt like a million dollars. I was the happiest I'd ever been. I went on to Dancing with the Stars and it was because I retired, I got to meet my husband. Wow. And it was amazing. But I think it's just that like life lesson that I've now taken into my business of if you're doing it for the wrong reason, it's never going to work. Yeah. And that's something that I learned from my coach at such a young age. The only thing he cared about is that we loved it. And if we didn't love it, he didn't want us to be there. And I've kind of found in business, if you don't like it, you could probably be successful, but it's not gonna be fulfilling and you're just gonna be working against something forever.

That's so good. You know, one of the things, and I, I thought about this, um, with both you and Andrew in, in being athlete, and I think a lot of athletes probably have this, is that you build your identity around, like for you being an Olympic gymnast, like your identity is very tied to that. Well, what happens to your identity when all of a sudden, well, you're not Olympic gymnast anymore? Can you talk about that a little bit? And then how did you, you know, whether you're, you know, semi-consciously rebuild your identity?

I have always said the morning after the very last competition at the Olympics, I felt like I woke up and ran straight into a brick wall as fast as I could. Because up until that moment, Every decision I made on a daily basis involved gymnastics. It was about training, it was about performance. What I ate, who I hung out with, who I talked to, what I wore was all this representation of my dream for the Olympics. As soon as that was over, I did not know how to operate as a human being. I didn't know how to eat. Like, I literally remember waking up at, at a hotel and going to like the breakfast buffet and not knowing how to eat breakfast. 'Cause I was like, I no longer have to eat, you know, quote, healthy for my performance. So do I go eat like a whole plate of French toast? Or like, it was so confusing. I didn't know what to do at 4 o'clock every day when I was normally in the gym. I didn't know how to go into an exercise facility, like an actual like workout gym. I didn't know how to lift a dumbbell. Like I didn't know what to do on a treadmill. I didn't know how to talk to friends that weren't expecting me to go to the Olympics and do so. It was just, it was wild. I lost a huge part of myself. And I always said it felt like a really, really bad breakup that just like ended with no closure because you don't know what to do next except start over. But the hard thing with that, with elite athletes, is the world sees you as an elite in your field. Right. So when the world sees you start over, that's a very humbling and hard thing for people to do. So I didn't know how to be bad at something to learn how to be good at something again, because I was afraid the world would look down on me for being bad at something. And it was paralyzing for a long time. Wow.

So how did you feel like you got over that? What are some of the things you would do to say, okay, I feel like this was something, like I started realizing that, These are the things, like if gymnastics isn't the world or the most important, here are some of the things that are the most important things that are me, Shawn.

I don't think I have the answer. I know what worked for me and that was my husband. Okay. My husband, when I met Andrew and we were dating, we hit it off strong and he was someone who saw me as a human being and not as a gymnast. And literally held my hand through the process. He could have cared less what I did as a job, what I did in gymnastics, what I did as a career or a headline. He just cared for me as who I was.

Yeah.

And I ended up, when I was dating him, I ended up quitting my job, which was like speaking engagement. It had to do with gymnastics. I quit my job for 2 years and I did nothing but just be a human. And I did some schooling, and I just did tiny little things here and there to keep myself afloat. But I started over, and he was the biggest encourager of wanting me to fail— this sounds weird— wanting me to fail miserably at things that I wanted to try. And I remember, I remember with my dad, my dad is a huge golfer, and he always wanted to take me to like the range to like hit golf balls. But I was too paralyzed by what people thought when they saw an Olympic gold medalist walk in and not be able to swing, like swing a club. Yeah. That I couldn't even pick up a club. And Andrew is the most refreshing person in the world because it was almost like it brought him joy to see me start from nothing. And I felt so safe around him to start from nothing. And it was because of him that I was able to like build a new career and be good at it because I failed miserably for a very long time.

I mean, it's so great. I mean, that's something that I love about Andrew too. It's like he, I mean, he just really celebrates failure. Hey, you fail. Hey, whether you hit it perfectly or you swung and missed, it's like, man, this is fun. That's great. You know, it's—

there is, there's something so endearing about him because he does, he makes you feel safe to to be a fool. And when the world expects Olympic gold in everything that you do, it was really refreshing to have someone who didn't expect anything and couldn't care about that, which was really fun.

That's awesome. Yeah, I mean, you know, being around you and Andrew a lot, one of the things I think Chelsea and I are really conscious of too, you know, with, as we talked about community, like we love being around other couples that, that love each other, that sharpen each other. And sometimes, you know, this could, you know, some— sometimes, like, Chelsea and I, we don't, um, we don't really argue a lot. It's just not our way because of how we're— just how we're wired. But you guys do more, but in a really, like, great way that kind of, like, sparks fly in a really, really good way. But talk to me a little bit about, like, how to cultivate a great marriage and a great relationship and family life. Uh, listen, here's what she's gonna say.

She's gonna be like, we're still working on Yeah, hey, so totally.

But you guys are great. Like, here's it, like Chelsea, we love being around you. Like, there's just this positive energy and vibe and a spirit of kind of negotiation with each other. Yeah. And because you guys share a purpose, like you want a great kid, you want a great family, you want to impact the world in a great way.

But yeah, we— I would say we try to— we're constantly working on ourselves. And I think that's the key to our marriage is we are never complacent. And we've always said this, the day that we become complacent, our marriage will like, will hurt. Because I'm constantly trying to impress him, to better myself, to be a better wife, to be a better mother. And he's constantly trying to be a better husband, a better father. And that means we go to couples therapy. That means we inter— we get to interview couples all day, every day.

Yeah.

And learn their advice and their hardships. We communicate so much to the point that it's sometimes painstaking. We will hash out any little thing that has like offended us or rubbed us the wrong way that hasn't served one another in the best possible manner. Um, we're just very open. We, we both agree that we're in this for life and we wanna make it the best possible life. That we can. So we just have to work on it.

It's so good. And I think some of this is the mindset of like this sort of Olympian goals, or just maybe the way you're wired, both of you, in terms of we just both want to keep getting better. And if we both keep getting better together, good things are going to happen in our marriage and our family. And it's— I love it. It's so good. I think that's one of the things that attracted us is the other thing we loved is that, like, we're all super competitive. Yeah. And when we were around to get another couple that was so competitive around, nobody wants to lose Everybody wants to do everything the absolute best. It's, it makes it a lot of fun.

We have a lot of fun. We're very competitive. We're both very stubborn. We're very driven. We're both very set in our ways. So it makes for a lot of arguments and tension, but it's one of the things we're most attracted to with one another. So I think even though it causes arguments, it's endearing because we know it's coming from like a, that perfectionist place of I just want to fix it. I want to be better.

So it's so good. Working so far on, on yours. I've listened to your podcast and it's fantastic. Everybody should go and listen to, uh, A Couple Things with, with Sean and Andrew. And, um, and so you've, you've been able to be around just a lot of incredible people. Who are some of the people that you admire most that you, you kind of, you know, you, you feel like they help me grow, or I admire what they've done? Like, who are some of those people? And, and And why do you admire them? Oh my gosh.

It's such a hard answer because I would say some of the people we admire the most are like our closest community of friends. Yeah. Like you guys, our game night crew, like the people who know us. But there has been something so cool about our— it sounds weird to say our podcast because I'm not pushing an agenda of business at all. But being able to interview couples from all over the world. Who have different dynamics and have to hear from them their pieces of advice and their hardships and what arguments they've gone through and how they've like fixed it has been really, really cool. So I don't know if it's like people were closest to, but to hear some of their stories, like recently we got to talk to the Wrightouts and it was one of the most amazing stories I've ever heard in my life of just complete failure in marriage and life and career with one another and how they rebuilt it. And it just, it gives you such hope in a world that's filled with such perfection. Yeah, I would say people who fail and can come out of it are the people that we love.

That's so good. Yeah, that's so good. So you have a lot of really smart people, successful people on there. What is maybe, it could be the best piece of advice or one of the most insightful things you've heard on the, you know, uh, anyone say so far on your podcast?

Um, two things come to mind that I always talk about. There were— I think it was the— I think it was the Billues, maybe.

Tom and Lisa.

I think it was Tom and Lisa. Or maybe the Zanacos. I don't know. They all blend together now. But someone said that their like, motto within their marriage is no matter what, we know how this ends, which is with us together. So no matter the argument, no matter the situation, no matter what life throws at you, they know at the end of it they're always going to be together. And it has just made their marriage easier to navigate because you're not in an argument thinking, is this the one where they're actually gonna leave? Like, that's not even a thought to them. Yeah. So that's been really cool for us to listen to and to like be able to have in our tool belt and use. Um, the other one was Jordan Matthews and his wife Shayna. He said something that he realized— very successful football player who's in the NFL. Um, something he really— he realized in the NFL where he's surrounded by temptation, opportunity, and just the world was, I'm not going to put myself in any position that doesn't serve my wife. And he said a lot of people feel like if they're scrolling on Instagram and they see a picture, it's just Instagram, so it's fine that you can look at it, or whatever it is, whatever situation he might be in where he knows he has the self-control to deal with it. He said, to be even a better husband, I'm not going to put myself in those situations at all. Yeah, because it doesn't serve my wife better. And I think Andrew and I have really taken that to heart in almost a sacrificial way, but with so much joy.

Yeah.

There's so many people who are like, oh, I can handle it. I can deal with it. I can do this. But at the end of the day, it's like, why? Yeah. If it doesn't lift your spouse up even more, then why do it at all?

That's so good. So that's so good. It's an idea. I mean, Billy Graham did something like this where it was like, I will not put myself even in a situation that could be looked upon that would, that would tarnish our marriage or my character or anything like that. I love that.

Well, in a very like harmless way too, we were even dealt— we dealt with a situation the other day where we have this really good friend who just is looking for a mentor. And Andrew is the perfect mentor for them. But at the end of the day, he was like, you know what, I love you so much. But it doesn't serve my wife to mentor a woman. And I'm so comfortable with it. And I was like, no, you have my sign-off. And he's like, no, it's just not worth it. And it's just little things like that that we do for each other to try to honor each other even more every day that has had a big payout. And it wasn't our way. It wasn't our way. We've just learned this through other people.

I love it. I mean, that's, you know, it's just a whole nother level. It's a whole nother level of thinking and a whole new standard. And I love it. It's, you know, it's, So good. Two more questions. Yes. How do you make— so how do you and Andrew, with— you guys are really busy. You have a lot going on. I mean, you have, you know, two kids with another on the way. You've got a really successful business, 14 other, I think, you know, shows within the show. I mean, there's a lot going on. You have speaking engagements. How, how do you prioritize the things that are the most important? How do you, how do you manage work-life balance?

I wish I could say there's like an answer to it. But I think what Andrew and I have gotten really used to is just like this internal scale. And I think everyone can understand that, like, when you know, you don't feel balanced in your life, like you haven't spent enough time with your kids, or you haven't spent enough time with your wife, or your business is failing cuz you haven't put any energy into it, whatever it is. We just have this scale where we have a conversation probably every few days, every week where it's like, is next week's travel really worth not taking the children? You know, or have we spent enough time away from them that we should take them and like make that sacrifice of buying more plane tickets and more hotel rooms and whatever it is. We're just constantly having this conversation with one another of, do we feel close as a family? Are we being good parents? Are we being good spouses? Are we being good leaders for our work? And it's just a constant conversation. I don't think there's an answer. You can't spend like a certain amount of time, or—

but I will say, here's one thing that I've picked up with people that are, um, doing what I believe are— I'm seeing these sort of, uh, a life that has a lot of purpose and a lot of meaning, there's an awareness.

Yeah.

So that's the thing I will say that I heard from that and that I've seen with you guys is that we're just, we're choosing to be very aware and operating with this emotional intelligence of, hey, my tank is empty or this tank is empty. We're aware of where that dial is on the fuel being full or it being empty. And so I think that's something you guys are trying to be aware.

For example, next week we're supposed to go on a 4-night, like, babymoon that we planned months ago, and it's at both of our favorite places in the entire world. Something we've looked forward to for over a year, basically. And we're canceling it because in our mind, we've spent too much time away from our kids. It doesn't even sound enjoyable at the moment. Yeah. And that's an easy thing where it's like, yeah, that'd be a lot of fun and we have to eat. A little bit of the money of the down payment and stuff, but it's worth it because we're not going to enjoy it as much as we can knowing that our balance is off.

That's good. Yeah, it's awareness. That's so good. What is your— so I asked you earlier, what is one of the best— actually, let me, let me ask you this. So this is part of the podcast. What's the best piece of advice you've ever gotten in your entire life?

Um, I would go back to what my coach taught me back when I was a kid, which is in order to be successful, you have to love what you do. And I think there's different like aspects and caveats to that that we could go on tangents on where it's like you can't love everything, every single thing. But I think for the most part, our culture tries to put too much weight into success without joy. So you're always striving to be the president or the next like big thing or make the next big paycheck when if you don't love what you do, it's not fulfilling, it's not purposeful. So I think having a passion for something is the greatest, most important piece of advice I ever had.

That's big.

My coach used to literally encourage us to quit if he saw like this continued, yeah, you're not here and you're not loving it.

I just had something come to mind and I had to share it because it was, it actually brought a tear to my eye. So we were, the last time we were at your house for dinner, Um, we were all sitting at the table, and your 3-year-old Drew, out of nowhere— I mean, we're just sitting at the dinner table enjoying some True Food Kitchen, and she just— I don't know where she goes— she, she turns to all of us and she goes, 'Jesus is in my heart.' Do you remember that? And I was like, it was just— I mean, no one— it was just, 'Jesus is in my heart.' How, how big does your faith play in your family and your business and kind of all these areas of your life?

I think it grows more and more every single day of how important it is. I feel like it's the foundation of everything that we've built, our marriage, our parenting, our babies, our business. And the few times in our lives where we've let that kind of go to the back burner, we've seen our lives kind of fall apart. And I'd say more now than ever with kids and with babies, faith is like, it's our, it's everything. Yeah. If we don't have that, we don't have anything.

Yeah, it's so good. Yeah, I mean, Chelsea, I've seen the same thing. It's like when we're connected, praying together, in faith together, you know, doing those things, it's, it's, uh, it flourishes, right? You know, the marriage flourishes. Last thing here, what is the best piece of advice that you have for anybody out there who's saying, I want to grow and be the best I can be?

Mm, I'd say what my husband taught me, which is I used to go on all of these rants when we were dating for years of things that I dreamt of, things that I wanted. And I was such a, like, I still am such a dreamer, but I was never a doer because I was so scared of failing. And something that he always taught me from day one was just do it. It doesn't like don't wait till it's perfect. Don't wait till it's the right time. Don't wait till nothing. If you want to grow something, if you want to attain something, just, just pull the trigger. You know this better than anyone with him.

Oh, it's so Andrew. I mean, this is— and it's so good though. So good.

Yeah, he'll pull the trigger and figure it out, which is really cool.

Like, Andrew might be— I mean, you guys might be like, hey honey, I want to go to Kilimanjaro and bring the kids, and you're pregnant next week, and yeah. And we're gonna fly in some, and I'll— and you guys will do it.

Yeah, why not?

It's amazing. I mean, I, I think you guys are really good at creating these meaningful moments in your life and your marriage. And, and by the way, I'm— I, I, uh, it's been so good just, um, just being back around you guys here, you know, because we've been in Puerto Rico, back in Nashville, and, uh, man, we've, we've missed hanging. So yeah, we'll probably invite ourselves over here, here this weekend. So cool. Well, thanks so much. Yeah, we'll get true food for sure. Well, thanks so much for coming on. I know, uh, you know, made you come here. You're pregnant, you're a little bit uncomfortable, but I, uh, again, super, super grateful. And, um, want to thank everybody for watching today, the episode of the Growth Lab. And I didn't really brag on Sean as much as I should have at the beginning because, um, well, we just dove into things, but, uh, 3 silver medals, 1 gold medal. She has written, you know, she's written books, she's built an incredibly successful business. She's a great mom, she's a great wife, she's a great friend, and just really grateful you came on today. Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

All right, everybody, thanks for watching another episode. Hey, don't forget to subscribe here to the Growth Lab. We've got more great content coming out your way every single day. Thanks again to Shawn Johnson East for sharing her wisdom today, and thank you for watching.